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U 


The  Dual  Personality  of 
Abraham  Lincoln" 

A  Brief  Psychological  Study 

By 

John  W.  Starr,  Jr. 


PRIVATELY  PRINTED 
1928 


Edition  of  75  numbered  and  signed  copies. 


Copyright,  1928 
John  W.  Starr,  Jr. 


FOREWORD 

/T^riefly,  the  purpose  of  this  monograph  has  been  an 
f*J  investigation  of  the  so-called  "dual  personality"  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  from  a  new  point  of  view — primarily 
psychological.  The  resultant  conclusions  largely  grew  out 
of  a  series  of  discussions  with  my  brother,  Dr.  Henry  E. 
Starr,  Assistant  Professor  of  Psychology,  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  to  whom  grateful  acknowledgment  is  hereby 
made.  I  am  also  indebted  to  Merritt  Starr,  Esq.,  of  Chicago, 
for  several  suggestions  used  in  the  preparation  of  the  text. 

This  paper  in  no  sense  denies  that  the  character  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  singularly  rich  in  what  may  be  re- 
garded as  contrasting  if  indeed  not  conflicting  strains  of 
personality.  It  aims  simply  to  indicate  the  psychological 
sources  of  error  and  scientific  unreliability  of  much  that  has 
heretofore  been  regarded  as  evidence,  thereby  inaugurating 
a  rather  unusual  criteria  in  the  consideration  of  historical 
data.  Applying  this  method  to  a  study  of  what  is  regarded 
popularly  as  the  most  flagrant  example  of  contradictoriness 
in  the  life  of  Lincoln,  namely  his  "Religion,"  we  find  the 
element  of  contradiction  in  this  as  in  other  instances  to  be 
found  in  the  individual  differences  existing  among  the  many 
witnesses. 

It  is  intended  that  the  present  study  will  be  but  prelim- 
inary  to  a  more  extended  psychological  survey  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  from  various  angles.  For  instance,  the  matter  of 
a  manic-depressive  cycle  in  the  emotional  reactions  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  gives  promise  of  a  rather  interesting  con- 
sideration. In  fact,  an  attempt  is  now  being  made  to  repre- 
sent graphically  his  emotional  fluctuations,  yet  even  here 
there  appears  to  be  no  evidence  of  any  abnormal  emotional 
instability. 


"The  Dual  Personality  of 
Abraham  Lincoln11 

«  i  braham  Lincoln,1'  said  the  eloquent  Henry  Watterson  by 

J\  way  of  apotheosis,  "was  without  ancestors,  fellows  or  succes' 
%S  JL  sors."  "It  is  doubtful  if  history  has  produced  a  more  mys- 
terious personality  than  that  which  was  incarnate  in  the  long,  gaunt, 
uncouth  form  of  the  First  American,"  wrote  Robert  Knowles  in  the 
year  of  the  Lincoln  centenary. 

Probably  more  analyses — or  rather  attempts  at  analysis — have  been 
made  of  his  character  than  that  of  any  other  human  being,  and  yet 
none  has  as  yet  fathomed  the  depths  of  his  personality,  and  I  believe 
we  can  never  arrive  at  an  approximately  full  understanding  until  an 
extended  and  intensive  study  of  it  is  made  from  a  psychological  stand- 
point. Call  it  genius,  call  it  the  result  of  special  Providence,  call  it 
but  the  application  of  profound  common  sense,  I  venture  the  state- 
ment that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  greatest  intellect  yet  produced 
on  the  American  continent,  and  the  one  thing  needed  as  a  fitting 
climax  to  all  that  has  been  done  before,  is  an  illuminating  psycho- 
logical analysis,  with  all  that  that  implies,  and  in  all  its  ramifications. 

Those  of  his  contemporaries  who  stood  nearest  to  him  agree  as  to 
the  element  of  an  apparent,  glaring  and  highly  antithetical  incongruity 
being  a  major  component  of  his  nature,  combined  with  an  original  and 
distinctive  individuality. 

"Lincoln,"  said  Henry  C.  Whitney,  who  knew  him  on  the  Circuit 
and  at  Washington,  "was  one  of  the  most  heterogeneous  characters 
that  ever  played  a  part  in  the  great  drama  of  history.  *  *  *  One  of 
his  peculiarities  was  his  inequality  of  conduct;  his  dignity,  inter- 
spersed with  freaks  of  frivolity  and  inanity;  his  high  aspiration  and 
achievement,  and  his  descent  into  the  most  primitive  vales  of  listless - 
ness."  In  short,  said  Whitney,  "his  character  might  be  defined  as  a 
combination  of  many  antitheses:  some  obvious,  some  perplexing, 
others  occult."    He  also  refers  to  him  as  being  at  once  "the  most 


melancholy  and  the  most  jocound  of  men,"  combining  within  himself 
the' 'strangely  diverse  roles  of  headof  the  State"  and  "the  court  jester." 

His  more  or  less  discriminating  friends  of  the  old  circuit-riding  and 
Springfield  days  agree  as  to  his  being  a  singularly  reticent  individual, 
listening  to  all,  yet  keeping  his  own  counsel,  and  having  no  confidants 
as  we  understand  the  term,  which  accounts  in  some  measure  for  our 
lack  of  understanding.  And  this  lack  of  understanding  has  been 
augmented  largely  by  the  conflicting  "personal  recollections"  and 
"reminiscences"  of  literally  scores  and  hundreds  of  his  so'called 
"friends,"  who  having  seen,  heard  or  met  him  on  one  or  two  occasions, 
have  left  their  "intimate"  impressions  to  baffle  an  inquiring  posterity. 

William  H.  Herndon,  associated  with  him  in  the  practice  of  law 
for  eighteen  years,  said  that  "he  never  revealed  himself  entirely  to 
any  one  man;"  David  Davis,  Judge  of  the  old  8th  Illinois  Circuit, 
afterwards  elevated  by  President  Lincoln  to  Associate  Justice  of  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court,  has  testified  that  "he  was  the  most 
reticent,  secretive  man  I  ever  saw  or  expect  to  see;"  Ward  Lamon, 
with  whom  he  formed  a  local  partnership  and  whom  he  took  to 
Washington  to  be  Marshal  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  has  witnessed 
that  he  was  "a  man  apart  from  his  kind;"  and  Leonard  Swett,  who 
was  stated  by  the  late  Col.  A.  K.  McClure  to  have  been  the  one  whose 
counsels  were  among  the  most  welcome  to  Lincoln,  at  one  time 
referred  to  the  great  public  mistake  in  estimating  his  character  as 
"frank,  guileless  and  unsophisticated,"  saying  that  "beneath  a  smooth 
surface  of  candor  and  apparent  declaration  of  all  his  thoughts  and 
feelings  he  exercised  the  most  exalted  tact  and  wisest  discrimination." 

Writing  in  1892,  Col.  McClure,  the  veteran  journalist  who  as  one 
of  the  Pennsylvania  politicians  during  the  war  period  materially 
assisted  in  keeping  the  state  in  the  Republican  fold,  said  that  of  all 
the  public  men  he  had  ever  met,  Lincoln  was  the  most  difficult  to 
analyze.  "His  characteristics  were  more  original,"  said  McClure, 
"more  diversified,  more  intense  in  a  sober  way,  and  yet  more  flexible 
under  many  circumstances,  than  I  have  seen  in  any  other,"  and  adds 
that  those  of  his  personal  friends  closest  to  him,  found  him  "utterly 
impassable  and  incomprehensible"  and  refers  to  his  "common  mingling 
of  greatness  and  infirmities." 

Joshua  Speed,  the  man  to  whom  Lincoln  opened  his  soul  during 
his  trying  match-making  days,  and  who  was  also  probably  the  most 


intimate  friend  that  Lincoln  ever  had,  in-so-far  as  he  had  an  intimate, 
said  that  "he  was  so  unlike  all  the  men  I  had  ever  known  before,  or 
have  seen  or  known  since,  that  there  is  no  one  to  whom  I  can  compare 
him.11 

Charles  Sumner,  the  polished  New  England  statesman,  declared 
that  "when  he  spoke  the  recent  West  seemed  to  vie  with  the  ancient 
East.  *  *  *  He  was  original  in  mind  as  in  character.  His  style  was 
his  own;  formed  on  no  model,  and  springing  directly  from  himself.11 

"His  mental  eye  was  clear  and  accurate,11  said  Isaac  N.  Arnold, 
another  member  of  the  early  Illinois  Bar,  and  member  of  the  national 
House  of  Representatives  from  1861  to  1867,  during  which  tenure  he 
was  referred  to  by  President  Lincoln  as  the  one  Republican  member 
in  whose  personal  and  political  friendship  he  had  absolute  faith. 
"He  had  a  sagacity  which  seemed  almost  instinctive  in  sifting  the 
true  and  real  from  the  false.  Extraneous  circumstances,  coloring, 
association,  and  accidents,  did  not  mislead  him.11  And  as  an  interest' 
ing  and  significant  aside,  Merritt  Starr,  Esq.,  of  Chicago,  informs  the 
writer  that  Arnold,  whom  he  knew,  had  exceptional  means  of  knowl' 
edge  and  understanding  of  Lincoln.  "Mr.  Arnold,11  he  adds,  "was 
himself  a  man  of  scholarly  interests,  and  a  gentleman  of  elegance  in 
heart,  speech,  dress  and  manner,  and  he  found  nothing  alien  in  his 
elegant  nature  in  Lincoln.11 

One  month  after  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  the  versatile  John  Hay 
wrote  to  his  coworker  in  the  Presidential  offices  with  respect  to  his 
superior,  that  "the  Tycoon  is  in  fine  whack.  I  have  rarely  seen  him 
more  serene  and  busy.  He  is  managing  this  war,  the  draft,  foreign 
relations,  and  planning  a  reconstruction  of  the  Union,  all  at  once.  I 
never  knew  with  what  a  tyrannous  authority  he  rules  the  Cabinet 
till  now.  The  most  important  things  he  decides,  and  there  is  no  cavil.11 

Long  before  this,  one  of  the  intellectual  giants  of  his  Cabinet, 
Premier  Seward,  who  thought  that  he  would  be  the  power  behind 
the  throne,  saw  the  handwriting  on  the  wall,  and  two  weeks  after 
the  new  administration  was  in  charge  of  national  affairs,  wrote  to  his 
wife  that  "the  President  proposes  to  do  all  his  work11  (the  italics  are 
mine),  and  three  months  later  had  come  to  the  point  when  he  could 
inform  her  that  "the  President  is  the  best  of  us  all.11 

His  countenance,  and  particularly  his  eyes,  reflected  his  varying 
moods.    "In  repose  it  was  the  saddest  face  I  ever  knew,11  said  Car- 


penter  the  artist,  who  spent  six  months  in  the  Executive  Mansion 
painting  his  First  Reading  of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  Before  the 
Cabinet.  "There  were  days  when  I  could  scarcely  look  into  it  with' 
out  crying. " 

"His  eyes,"  according  to  Arnold,  were  a  "dark  gray,  clear,  very 
expressive,  and  varying  with  every  mood:  now  sparkling  with 
humor  and  fun,  then  flashing  with  wit;  stern  with  indignation  at 
wrong  and  injustice,  then  kind  and  genial,  and  then  dreamy  and 
melancholy,  and  at  times  with  that  almost  superhuman  sadness  which 
it  has  been  said  is  the  sign  and  seal  of  those  who  are  to  be  martyrs." 

When  in  1865  J.  G.  Holland,  later  editor  of  Scribner's  magazine, 
went  to  Illinois  to  gather  data  for  a  contemporary  perspective  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  to  be  used  in  the  preparation  of  a  biography,  he 
was  confronted  on  every  hand  with  the  problem  of  his  subject's 
ambiguity. 

"I  have  conversed  with  multitudes  of  men  who  claimed  to  know 
Mr.  Lincoln  intimately,"  he  wrote,  "yet  there  are  not  two  of  the 
whole  number  who  agree  in  their  estimate  of  him.  The  fact  was  that 
he  rarely  showed  more  than  one  aspect  of  himself  to  one  man.  He 
opened  himself  to  men  in  different  directions.  *  *  * 

"He  lived  for  years  a  double  life,  a  deep  and  a  shallow  one," 
Holland  reasoned.  "Oppressed  with  great  responsibilities,  absorbed 
by  the  most  profound  problems  relating  to  his  own  spirit  and  destiny, 
brought  into  sympathetic  relation  with  the  woes  of  the  world,  and 
living  much  in  the  very  depths  of  a  sadness  whose  natural  fountain 
had  been  deepened  by  the  experience  of  his  life,  he  found  no  relief 
except  by  direct  and  entire  translation  to  that  other  channel  of  his 
life  which  lay  among  his  shallowest  emotions.  *  *  *  Such  a  nature 
and  character  seem  full  of  contradictions,  and  a  man  who  is  subject 
to  such  transitions  will  always  be  a  mystery  to  those  who  do  not 
know  him  fully.  Thus  no  two  men  among  his  intimate  friends  will 
agree  concerning  him." 

This  so-called  antithetical  characteristic  of  Abraham  Lincoln  has 
been  in  a  large  measure  responsible  for  the  never  ending  stream  of 
controversial  processions  which  from  time  to  time  have  wended  and 
continue  to  wend  their  way  across  the  historical  and  national  stage; 
this  is  why  he  is  claimed  by  both  the  "Wets"  and  the  "Drys;"  why, 
as  an  example,  it  is  still  an  unsettled  problem  in  the  minds  of  many 


students  as  to  whether  President  Lincoln  favored  either  Hannibal 
Hamlin  or  Andrew  Johnson  for  a  running  mate  in  1864;  why  he  has 
been  acclaimed  by  not  only  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties  but 
the  Socialist  as  well;  and  finally,  why  he  has  been  variously  termed  an 
Agnostic,  an  Infidel,  a  Free  thinker,  a  Deist,  a  Rationalist,  a  Materi- 
alist,  a  Spiritualist,  a  Mystic,  a  Seer,  a  Catholic,  a  Unitarian,  a  Uni- 
versalist,  an  orthodox  and  an  unorthodox  Christian,  and  a  patron 
saint  of  every  sect  and  cult  on  our  mundane  sphere. 

And  it  is  undeniable,  and  must  be  admitted,  that  the  individual 
who  could  compose  the  Gettysburg  Address,  the  Second  Inaugural 
and  the  letter  of  condolence  to  Mrs.  Bixby,  could  also  regale  his 
chance  listener  or  intimate  friend  with  stories  which  would  not  bear 
repetition  in  the  drawing-rooms  of  his  day.  And  the  enigmatical  figure 
who  was,  as  John  Hay  has  said,  "with  all  his  foibles  the  greatest 
character  since  Christ,'1  could,  while  entertaining  a  profoundly  honest 
and  deeply  sincere  religious  feeling,  yet  loosen  the  valves  of  his  pent 
up  emotional  nature  and  either  delight  or  disgust  his  auditor  by  an 
apparently  irrelevant,  irreverent  remark  or  story. 

In  this  connection  I  purpose  to  formulate  a  series  of  deeply  rooted 
beliefs  and  traits  generally  accepted  by  the  intelligent  Lincoln  students 
correlated  with  a  series  of  well  authenticated  anecdotes  and  stories 
which  it  will  readily  be  discerned  formed  an  apparently  sound  frame' 
work  for  deducing  an  attitude  of  irreverence  and  ir religiousness.  And 
with  relation  to  my  statements  of  belief  I  do  not  propose  to  enter  into 
a  polemical  discussion  as  to  what  this  or  that  acquaintance  or  friend 
said  in  allegation  of  the  faiths,  or  lack  of  faith,  attributed  to  him. 

Abraham  Lincoln  believed  in  a  Supreme  Being,  an  Over-ruling 
Providence.  The  late  Col.  McClure  once  informed  the  writer  that 
many  times  he  had  heard  him  speak  of  the  Overruling  power  of  the 
nation  and  world.  And  although  he  could  not  understand  its  work- 
ings, he  believed  in  the  will  of  God,  and  that  he  was  an  instrument  in 
the  hands  of  Divine  Providence  for  carrying  out  this  Will.  His 
document  "not  written  to  be  seen  of  men,"  as  his  secretaries  put  it, 
commencing  "the  will  of  God  prevails,"  composed  when  his  great 
heart  as  well  as  his  equally  great  intellect  was  grappling  with  his 
weightiest  problem,  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  proves  con- 
clusively the  workings  of  his  mind  in  thinking  the  matter  to  a  finish  m 

He  believed  in  the  efficacy  of  prayer.  "I  have  been  many  times 
driven  to  my  knees  by  the  overwhelming  conviction  that  I  had  no- 


where  else  to  go,11  he  told  his  friend  Noah  Brooks  during  the  dark 
days  of  civil  conflict.  Before  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  he  importuned 
his  God  for  victory  and  had  no  doubt  of  the  result.  In  1862  he  made 
a  promise  to  himself  and  his  Maker  that  if  the  Confederate  army  should 
be  driven  out  of  Maryland,  he  would  issue  a  proclamation  of  emanci- 
pation for  the  negro.  And  yet  notwithstanding  this,  and  as  a  strong 
commentary  on  his  apparent  contradictoriness,  it  should  be  stated 
that  the  preliminary  proclamation  of  September  22nd  contained  no 
reference  whatever  to  the  Deity,  and  it  was  only  at  the  suggestion  of 
Secretary  Chase  that  the  final  proclamation  invoked  the  "gracious 
favor  of  Almighty  God." 

He  was  as  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  Scriptures  as  he  was  with 
Blackstone,  and  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  he  read  the  Bible 
daily.  Some  of  his  greatest  utterances  show  the  effect  of  this  close 
study.  In  the  summer  of  1864  Speed  called  on  him  at  the  Soldier's 
Home  and  found  the  President  sitting  near  a  window  reading  this 
book  by  the  gathering  twilight.  "Take  all  of  this  book  upon  reason 
that  you  can,  and  the  balance  on  faith,  and  you  will  live  and  die  a 
happier  man,"  he  told  his  old  associate,  whom  he  had  known  as  a 
fellow'skeptic  in  their  earlier  days. 

He  believed  in  exemplifying  the  teachings  of  Christ.  For  dogmas 
and  creeds  he  cared  little.  Some  years  ago  the  writer  was  informed 
by  Alban  Jasper  Conant,  the  artist,  that  he  once  heard  Lincoln  make 
a  remark  to  the  effect  that  when  he  found  a  church  that  taught  the 
teachings  of  Christ,  he  should  join  it.  This  statement  is  in  line  with 
an  expression  he  once  made  to  Hon.  H.  C.  Deming  of  Connecticut, 
that  "when  any  church  will  inscribe  over  its  altar  as  its  sole  quali' 
fication  for  membership,  'Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself,'  that  church  will  I  join  with  all  my  heart  and 
with  all  my  soul." 

He  believed  in  the  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath  Day,  and  one  of  his 
generals,  Haupt,  has  related  how  upon  one  occasion  when  a  military 
movement  was  to  be  initiated  and  the  President  was  told  that  all 
would  be  in  readiness  the  following  Sunday,  after  a  short  reflection 
Lincoln  said:  "I'll  tell  you  what  to  do;  take  a  good  ready  and  start 
Monday  morning." 

Although  he  never  united  with  it,  he  believed  in  the  Christian 
Church  as  an  agency  for  good,  and  was  deeply  grateful  for  the  support 


accorded  the  government  by  the  various  denominational  bodies  during 
the  war.  And  during  these  latter  years  of  his  life,  while  carrying  the 
tremendous  responsibility  of  the  nation  upon  his  shoulders,  he 
attended  church  with  as  much  regularity  as  the  duties  of  his  office 
would  permit. 

Coupled  with  his  religious  practicality  was  a  deep-seated  super- 
stition.  He  was  greatly  impressed  by  dreams  of  various  kinds.  Upon 
one  occasion  he  telegraphed  from  the  Executive  Mansion  to  his  wife 
in  Philadelphia:  "Think  you  had  better  put  Tad's  pistol  away.  I 
had  an  ugly  dream  about  him.11  While  visiting  at  Fort  Monroe  shortly 
after  the  death  of  an  older  son,  he  borrowed  the  commandant's  copy 
of  Shakespeare,  and  after  reading  aloud  from  "Macbeth"  and  "King 
Lear11  turned  to  "King  John.11  Deeply  moved  by  the  passages  in 
which  Constance  bewails  the  loss  of  her  boy,  he  closed  the  book  and 
repeated : 

"And,  father  cardinal,  I  have  heard  you  say 
That  we  shall  see  and  know  our  friends  in  heaven: 
If  that  be  true,  I  shall  see  my  boy  again. — 

"Colonel  Cannon,11  he  said,  "did  you  ever  dream  of  some  lost  friend, 
and  feel  that  you  were  having  a  sweet  communion  with  that  friend; 
and  yet  have  a  sad  consciousness  that  it  was  not  a  reality?  Just  so 
I  dream  of  my  boy  Willie,11  and  overcome  by  his  emotions  he  laid  his 
head  upon  the  table  and  broke  into  convulsive  weeping.  At  the 
Cabinet  meeting  held  the  morning  of  his  assassination  he  recounted  a 
dream  he  had  had  the  previous  night  which  had  preceded  nearly 
every  important  event  of  the  war. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  he  was  interested  to  some  extent  in 
Spiritualistic  phenomena,  although  obviously  the  accounts  of  the 
devotees  of  that  cult  have  been  over-drawn.  It  is  my  opinion  that 
this  interest  was  due  chiefly  to  the  death  of  his  son,  which  occurred 
about  a  year  after  the  Lincoln  family  took  up  their  residence  in  the 
White  House. 

Turning  to  the  other  side  of  the  picture,  I  append  some  of  the  best 
of  the  authentic  stories  told  of  and  by  Lincoln,  which,  without  a 
context,  and  attributed  to  some  unnamed  individual,  would  be 
enough  to  put  him  in  the  category  of  the  irreligious,  the  sacreligious, 
and  in  some  quarters  the  "damned.11 


One  of  the  best  stories  in  this  collection,  I  believe,  is  the  one  told 
by  Henry  B.  Rankin,  a  law  student  in  the  Lincoln-Herndon  office, 
who  recently  died  at  an  advanced  age  in  Springfield. 

It  seems  that  during  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1856  the  office 
was  often  the  scene  of  political  discussion,  and  that  upon  one  occasion 
when  the  senior  partner  was  present  a  budding  voter  was  strenuously 
advocating  the  election  of  Millard  Fillmore  and  dilated  upon  his 
4  'goodness/ ' 

After  listening  to  this  twaddle  for  awhile,  Lincoln,  who  had  been 
at  work  on  his  desk  and  had  taken  no  part  in  the  conversation,  rose 
to  leave. 

"My  young  friend"  he  said,  "I  think  you  are  making  a  mistake  in 
voting  for  Mr.  Fillmore  because  of  his  goodness.  You  can  do  some 
thing  much  better.  There  is  One  whose  goodness  and  greatness  all 
agree  far  exceed  Mr.  Fillmore's,  and  in  fact,  all  others  that  could  be 
named.     No  one  will  question  this;  no  one  doubts  this. 

"So  on  the  6th  of  November  next  I  advise  you  to  go  to  the  polls  and 
vote  for  Almighty  God  for  President.  He  is  unquestionably  the  best 
being  who  exists.  There  is  practically  as  much  chance  of  electing 
God  Almighty  President  of  the  United  States  at  this  time,  as  Millard 
Fillmore,"  he  said  as  he  left  the  office. 

James  R.  Gilmore,  the  lecturer  and  writer,  whose  pen'name  of 
Edmund  Kirke  was  widely  known  at  one  time,  accompanied  Colonel 
Jaquess  on  his  mission  in  1864  to  interview  Jefferson  Davis.  He  has 
related  the  following  story  as  being  told  by  President  Lincoln  upon 
the  occassion  of  their  conferring  together  as  to  the  practicability  of 
allowing  Jaquess  to  go  unaccompanied  on  a  similar  undertaking  in  the 
summer  of  1863,  the  latter  feeling  as  he  said,  that  "God's  hand  was  in 
it."  Gilmore  in  the  course  of  his  remarks  suggested  that  as  the  Con' 
federate  leaders  might  consider  Jaquess  in  the  light  of  a  spy,  and  so 
deal  summarily  with  him,  he  hoped  in  that  event  the  President  might 
find  some  means  to  interfere. 

"I  don't  see  how  I  could,"  Lincoln  replied,  "without  appearing  to 
have  a  hand  in  the  business,"  and  then  he  told  a  story  illustrating  his 
purpose  to  "let  the  Lord  take  care  of  Jaquess." 

"What  you  suggest  reminds  me  of  a  man  out  west,  who  was  not 
over'pious,  but  rich,  and  built  a  church  for  the  poor  people  of  his 
neighborhood.    When  the  church  was  finished,  the  people  took  it  into 


their  heads  that  it  needed  a  lightning-rod,  and  they  went  to  the  rich 
man,  and  asked  him  for  money  to  help  pay  for  it. 

"  'Money  for  a  lightning-rod f  he  said.  'Not  a  red  cent!  If  the 
Lord  wants  to  thunder  down  his  own  house,  let  him  thunder  it  down 
and  be  damned.1  " 

Carpenter  states  that  at  one  of  the  Presidential  receptions  a  visitor 
mentioned  having  met  in  California  some  time  previously  an  old 
Springfield  friend  of  the  President,  by  the  name  of  Thompson  Camp- 
bell. 

"Ah!  I  am  glad  to  hear  of  him,"  said  Lincoln.  "Campbell  used  to 
be  a  dry  fellow.    For  a  time  he  was  secretary  of  state. 

"One  day  during  the  legislative  vacation,"  he  went  on,  "a  meek, 
cadaverous-looking  man,  with  a  white  neck-cloth,  introduced  himself 
to  him  at  his  office,  and  stating  that  he  had  been  informed  that  Mr. 
Campbell  had  the  letting  of  the  Assembly  Chamber,  said  that  he 
wished  to  secure  it,  if  possible,  for  a  course  of  lectures  he  desired  to 
deliver  in  Springfield. 

"  'May  I  ask,1  said  the  Secretary,  'what  is  to  be  the  subject  of  your 
lectures?1 

'  'Certainly,1  was  the  reply,  with  a  very  solemn  expression  of 
countenance.  'The  course  I  wish  to  deliver  is  on  the  Second  Coming 
of  our  Lord.1 

"  'It  is  of  no  use,1  said  Campbell.  'If  you  will  take  my  advice  you 
will  not  waste  your  time  in  this  city.  It  is  my  private  opinion  that 
if  the  Lord  has  been  in  Springfield  once,  He  will  not  come  the  second 
time.1  " 

This  same  artist  says  that  about  a  year  before  the  assassination 
Lincoln  was  waited  upon  by  a  delegation  of  clergymen  of  various 
denominations.  These  gentry  had  come  to  expostulate  with  the 
President  concerning  the  necessity  of  scrutinizing  more  carefully  the 
characters  of  the  men  who  were  being  selected  as  army  chaplains,  it 
being  asserted  that  many  of  these  appointees  were  notoriously  unfit. 

In  vain  the  President  explained  that  as  the  chaplains  were  chosen 
by  the  various  regiments  the  government  had  nothing  to  do  with  it, 
and  finally  he  could  stand  the  tirade  no  longer. 

"Without  any  disrespect,  gentlemen,11  he  said,  "I  will  tell  you  a 
little  story. 

"Once  in  Springfield  I  was  going  off  on  a  short  journey,  and  reached 
the  depot  a  little  ahead  of  time.    Leaning  against  the  fence  just  outside 

13 


the  depot  was  a  little  darkey  boy,  whom  I  knew,  named  Dick,  busily 
digging  with  his  toe  in  a  mud-puddle.  As  I  came  up  I  said:  'Dick, 
what  are  you  about?'  'Making  a  church,'  said  he.  'A  church/  said 
I;  'what  do  you  mean?1  "Why,  yes,1  said  Dick,  pointing  with  his  toe, 
'don't  you  see?  There  is  the  shape  of  it;  there's  the  steps  and  front' 
door — here's  the  pews,  where  the  folks  set — and  there's  the  pulpit.' 
'Yes,  I  see,'  said  I,  'but  why  don't  you  make  a  minister?'  'Laws,'  an- 
swered  Dick,  with  a  grin,  'I  hain't  got  mud  enough.' '" 

Donn  Piatt,  the  journalist,  related  how  upon  one  occasion  when 
Lincoln's  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  advancing  an  elaborate 
argument  against  a  certain  measure,  the  President  heard  him  through 
patiently,  and  then  said : 

"Chase,  down  in  Illinois  I  was  held  to  be  a  pretty  good  lawyer, 
and  I  believe  I  could  answer  every  point  you  have  made,  but  I  don't 
feel  called  upon  to  do  it. 

"This  thing  reminds  me  of  a  story  I  read  in  a  newspaper  the  other 
day. 

"It  was  of  an  Italian  Captain  who  ran  his  vessel  on  a  rock  and 
knocked  a  hole  in  her  bottom.  He  set  his  men  to  pumping  and  he 
went  to  prayers  before  a  figure  of  the  Virgin  in  the  bow  of  the  ship. 
The  leak  gained  on  them.  It  looked  at  last  as  if  the  vessel  would  go 
down  with  all  on  board.  The  Captain  at  length  in  a  fit  of  rage  at  not 
having  his  prayers  answered,  seized  the  figure  of  the  Virgin  and  threw 
it  overboard.  Suddenly  the  leak  stopped,  the  water  was  pumped  out, 
and  the  vessel  got  safely  into  port.  When  docked  for  repairs,  the 
statue  of  the  Virgin  Mary  was  found  stuck  head-foremost  in  the  hole. 

"Now  Chase,  I  don't  intend  precisely  to  throw  the  Virgin  Mary 
overboard,  and  by  that  I  mean  the  Constitution,  but  I  will  stick  it 
in  the  hole  if  I  can." 

It  would  be  well  if  this  little  incident  could  be  absorbed  by  some 
of  our  present-day  political  so-called  Constitutionalists. 

Among  the  "stories"  which  Lincoln  regarded  as  the  best  in  his 
repertoire,  was  one  he  called  his  "slow-horse  story,"  and  for  which  he 
was  originally  indebted  to  the  artist  Conant. 

"There  was  a  Missouri  candidate  for  country  judge,"  he  would 
relate,  "who  applied  to  a  liveryman  for  a  fast  horse  that  would  get 
him  sixteen  miles  to  a  nominating  convention  before  evening — in 
time  to  do  a  little  log-rolling  before  the  meeting.    But  as  the  liveryman 


was  secretly  supporting  a  rival  candidate,  he  hired  out  a  horse  that 
broke  down  before  half  the  journey  was  done,  and  the  man  never  got 
to  the  convention.  Seeing  the  trick,  and  realizing  that  resentment  was 
useless,  the  would-be  candidate  brought  back  the  old  nag  to  its  owner 
and  said  drily: 

"  'I  see,  Jones,  you  are  training  him  for  a  hearse  horse,  but  it's  no 
use.  He'd  never  get  a  corpse  to  the  cemetery  even  in  time  for  the 
Resurrection/  " 

Upon  the  resignation  of  Attorney  General  Bates  in  1864,  his 
assistant,  Titian  J.  Coffey,  was  strongly  urged  to  succeed  him.  But 
from  a  political  standpoint,  President  Lincoln  believed  that  a  selection 
should  be  made  from  the  south. 

"My  Cabinet  has  shrunk  up  north,"  he  said,  "and  I  must  find  a 
southern  man.  I  suppose  if  the  twelve  apostles  were  to  be  chosen 
nowadays  the  shrieks  of  locality  would  have  to  be  heard/1 

James  M.  Scovel,  a  contemporary  New  Jersey  legislator,  is  author- 
ity for  this  pertinent  story  of  Lincoln's  which  the  latter  used  to  tell 
with  great  gusto,  in  connection  with  the  prevailing  petty  jealousies 
of  various  Congressmen  and  army  officers,  as  they  came  to  him  with 
their  complaints. 

"Gentlemen,11  he  would  say,  "you  remind  me  of  two  good  sound 
Methodist  men,  both  friends  of  mine  in  Sangamon  County,  Farmer 
Jones  and  Fiddler  Simpkins. 

"Jones,  a  class  leader,  was  exceptionally  gifted  in  prayer,  while 
his  neighbor  Simpkins,  who  could  not  boast  of  a  similar  gift,  was 
known  all  over  the  country  for  his  skill  as  a  fiddler,  which  made  him 
a  welcome  guest  at  every  country  hoe-down. 

"One  night  at  a  Wednesday  evening  prayer-meeting  Brother  Jones 
made  a  wonderful  prayer  which  touched  the  spirit  of  the  assembly 
and  Simpkins  thought  it  became  him  to  say  something. 

'*  'Brethring  and  sistring,  I  know  that  I  can't  make  half  as  good  a 
prayer  as  Brother  Jones,  but  by  the  grace  of  God  I  can  fiddle  the  shirt 
off  of  him.1  " 

In  January  1863  President  Lincoln  was  waited  upon  by  a  self- 
constituted  committee  of  Young  Christians  (?)  for  the  purpose  of 
inducing  him  to  withdraw  the  name  of  James  Shrigley  of  Philadelphia 
which  had  been  presented  to  the  Senate  for  a  chaplaincy  in  the  army. 

"On  what  ground  do  you  wish  the  nomination  withdrawn?11 
asked  the  President. 

15 


11  Mr.  Shrigley  is  not  sound  in  his  theological  opinions,11  was  the 
reply. 

"On  what  question  is  the  gentleman  unsound?" 

"He  does  not  believe  in  endless  punishment;  not  only  so,  sir,  but 
he  believes  that  even  the  rebels  themselves  will  finally  be  saved.11 

"Well,  gentlemen,  if  that  be  so,  and  there  is  any  way  under  heaven 
whereby  the  rebels  can  be  saved,  then  for  God's  sake  and  their  sakes, 
let  the  man  be  appointed.11    And  he  was  appointed. 

"When  I  was  in  New  Orleans  during  the  days  of  slavery,11  Lincoln 
once  related  to  General  Wilson,  "there  was  a  man  making  ascents  in 
a  balloon,  which  created  a  good  deal  of  excitement  in  the  city.  I  went 
to  see  the  spectacle;  the  wind  was  rather  too  strong  for  the  fellow, 
who  instead  of  coming  down  as  he  intended  at  the  starting  point, 
was  blown  away  some  miles  into  the  country,  finally  landing  in  a 
cotton  field,  where  there  was  a  gang  of  slaves  at  work. 

"When  they  saw  the  bespangled  creature  coming  apparently  from 
Heaven,  the  darkies  all  took  to  the  woods,  except  a  rheumatic  old 
negro  who  could  not  run,  so  he  stood  his  ground.  When  the  air 
navigator,  gorgeous  in  spangles  and  bright  colored  silks,  stepped  out 
of  the  balloon  and  came  towards  the  frightened  old  darkey,  the  latter 
thought  he  would  do  the  best  he  could  for  himself,  so  he  said :  'Good 
morning,  Massa  Jesus,  how's  your  Pa?1  " 

In  1862  when  Lincoln  was  considering  the  appointment  of  Edwin 
M.  Stanton  as  Secretary  of  War  to  succeed  Simon  Cameron,  a  discus' 
sion  once  arose  in  his  office  during  the  course  of  which  Stanton's 
various  defects  were  brought  out  rather  strongly,  special  mention 
being  made  of  his  "impulsiveness.11 

"Well,11  said  Lincoln,  who  had  already  made  up  his  mind  to  the 
appointment,  "we  may  have  to  treat  him  as  they  are  sometimes 
obliged  to  treat  a  Methodist  minister  I  know  of  out  west.  He  gets 
wrought  up  to  so  high  a  pitch  of  excitement  in  his  prayers  and  ex' 
hortations  that  they  are  obliged  to  put  bricks  into  his  pockets  to  keep 
him  down.  We  may  be  obliged  to  serve  Stanton  the  same  way,  but 
I  guess  we'll  let  him  jump  awhile  first.1' 

Another  story  which  had  to  do  with  the  Methodist  brethren,  but 
of  another  color,  was  told  by  President  Lincoln  to  Cassius  M.  Clay, 
his  Minister  to  Russia,  one  day  in  the  White  House  when  word  was 
brought  in  that  a  captured  Union  man,  on  being  condemned  to  death 

16 


by  the  Confederates,  had  been  given  the  chance  of  either  being  shot 
or  hung.  Lincoln  immediately  sensed  the  possibilities  of  the  incident, 
and  was  reminded  of  a  story. 

"There  was  a  camp-meeting  of  colored  Methodists  in  my  earlier 
days,"  he  said,  "at  which  was  a  brother  who  responded  often  to  the 
preacher  with  an  'Amen,1  'Bless  the  Lord,1  and  so  on. 

"The  preacher  drew  a  strong  line,  sweeping  the  sinners  on  both 
sides  into  the  devil's  net. 

"  "All  those,1  he  said,  'who  thus  sin  are  in  the  downward  path  to 
ruin,  and  all  those  who  so  act,  including  about  the  whole  human  race, 
are  on  the  sure  road  to  hell.1 

"To  which  the  unctious  brother,  bewildered,  cried  out:  'Bless  the 
Lord,  this  nigger  takes  to  the  woods.1  v 

It  will  have  been  observed  that  in  several  of  his  stories,  Lincoln 
referred  by  name  to  the  Methodist  denomination,  which  may  be 
adjudged  as  sly  gibes  at  the  members  of  that  faith,  whereas  nothing 
of  the  kind  was  intended.  He  merely  used  the  incidents  for  the 
purpose  of  bringing  out  the  point  he  had  in  mind.  As  Dr.  Barton  has 
clearly  pointed  out,  the  Lincoln  family  appears  never  to  have  been 
strongly  under  the  influence  of  Methodism,  but  it  should  also  be 
noted  that  as  such  times  as  he  did  come  into  contact  with  its  in' 
fluences,  they  were  of  the  sort  to  make  a  favorable  impression  on  his 
mind.  As  a  young  man,  he  in  company  with  some  of  his  fellows, 
attended  a  Methodist  camp-meeting  and  listened  with  rare  interest 
to  a  virile  and  independent  speaker,  Rev.  Peter  Akers,  prophesying 
the  "downfall  of  castes,  the  end  of  tyrannies,  and  the  crushing  of 
slavery;11  ten  years  later  as  a  Springfield  attorney  he  came  into  contact 
with  Rev.  James  F.  Jaquess,  of  the  later  Jaquess-Gilmore  mission, 
and  was  markedly  impressed  with  his  strong  and  magnetic  personality; 
but  more  particularly  did  the  Methodist  Church  as  a  whole  or  rather 
the  northern  branch  thereof,  receive  his  profound  gratitude  during 
the  Civil  War  period  for  its  various  activities  in  upholding  the  admin- 
istration.  And  last  but  not  least,  he  was  indebted  to  a  good  parson, 
Colonel  Moody  by  name,  who  was  not  "too  proud  to  fight11  but  on 
the  contrary  had  been  dubbed  the  "Fighting  Methodist  Parson11  by 
the  people  of  Tennessee,  for  his  good  works  in  their  behalf,  for  an 
original  story  giving  him  a  good  "kick11  at  a  time  when  he  needed  it, 
and  which  was  added  to  his  already  large  store-house  of  anecdotes. 

17 


Carpenter,  who  came  into  the  room  soon  after  the  departure  of  Moody, 
was  immediately  told  the  tale  with  all  its  trimmings.  In  explanation 
it  should  be  stated  that  Andrew  Johnson  was  then  acting  as  Military 
Governor  of  Tennessee  and  General  Buell  was  in  command  of  the 
Union  forces  there. 

"The  Colonel  happened  to  be  in  Nashville  the  day  it  was  reported 
that  Buell  had  decided  to  evacuate  the  city,"  said  Lincoln.  "The 
rebels,  strongly  reinforced,  were  said  to  be  within  two  days'  march 
of  the  capital.    Of  course  the  city  was  greatly  excited. 

"Moody  said  he  went  in  search  of  Johnson,  at  the  edge  of  the 
evening,  and  found  him  at  his  office,  closeted  with  two  gentlemen, 
who  were  walking  the  floor  with  him,  one  on  each  side. 

"As  he  entered  they  retired,  leaving  him  alone  with  Johnson,  who 
came  up  to  him,  manifesting  intense  feeling,  and  said:  'Moody,  we 
are  sold  out !  Buell  is  a  traitor !  He  is  going  to  evacuate  the  city,  and 
in  forty-eight  hours  we  shall  all  be  in  the  hands  of  the  rebels  f 

"Then  he  commenced  pacing  the  floor  again,  twisting  his  hands, 
and  chafing  like  a  caged  tiger,  utterly  insensible  to  his  friend's  en- 
treaties to  become  calm.  Suddenly  he  turned  and  said:  'Moody, 
can  you  pray?' 

'  'That  is  my  business,  sir,  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,'  returned 
the  Colonel. 

"  "Well,  Moody,  I  wish  you  would  pray,'  said  Johnson;  and  in- 
stantly both  went  down  upon  their  knees,  at  opposite  sides  of  the 
room.  As  the  prayer  waxed  fervent,  Johnson  began  to  respond  in 
true  Methodist  style.  Presently  he  crawled  over  on  his  hands  and 
knees  to  Moody's  side,  and  put  his  arm  over  him,  manifesting  the 
deepest  emotion.  Closing  the  prayer  with  a  hearty  'Amen'  from  each, 
they  arose. 

"Johnson  took  a  long  breath,  and  said,  with  emphasis:  'Moody, 
I  feel  better !'  Shortly  afterwards  he  asked :  'Will  you  stand  by  me?' 
'Certainly  I  will'  was  the  answer.  'Well,  Moody,  I  can  depend 
upon  you;  you  are  one  in  a  hundred  thousand !'  Suddenly  he  wheeled, 
the  current  of  his  thought  having  changed,  and  said : 

"'  'Oh!  Moody,  I  don't  want  you  to  think  I  have  become  a  religious 
man  because  I  asked  you  to  pray.  I  am  sorry  to  say  it,  but  I  am  not, 
and  have  never  pretended  to  be  religious.  No  one  knows  this  better 
than  you;  but  Moody,  there  is  one  thing  about  it — I  DO  believe  in 

18 


ALMIGHTY  GOD!    And  I  believe  also  in  the  BIBLE,  and  I  say 

damn  me  if  Nashville  shall  be  surrendered/  v     And  Carpenter  adds 
"and  Nashville  was  not  surrendered." 

James  E.  Murdoch,  the  elocutionist,  is  responsible  for  the  preser- 
vation of  the  following  incident,  which  occurred  one  day  while  a 
detachment  of  troops  was  marching  down  Pennsylvania  Avenue, 
spectators  and  participants  vieing  with  each  other  in  singing  the 
familiar  strains  of  "John  Brown."  The  streets  were  thronged,  and 
in  the  midst  of  the  excitement  the  President's  attention  was  directed 
to  a  solitary  individual  who  had  climbed  into  a  tree,  too  light  for  his 
weight,  as  could  be  testified  by  his  antics  as  he  tried  to  overcome  the 
swaying  of  the  stem  to  which  he  clung.  "Lincoln,"  said  Murdoch, 
"paused  in  the  serious  conversation  in  which  he  was  deeply  interested, 
and  in  an  abstracted  manner,  with  a  droll  cast  of  the  eye,  and  a  nod 
of  the  head  in  the  direction  of  the  man,  he  repeated  in  his  dry  and 
peculiar  utterance,  the  following  old-fashioned  couplet : 
''  'And  Zacchaeus  he,  did  climb  a  tree, 
His  Lord  and  Master,  for  to  see — ' 

"And  amid  the  laughter  of  those  who  had  observed  the  incongruity 
of  the  scene,  Mr.  Lincoln  resumed  the  serious  tone  of  his  remarks,  as 
if  nothing  unusual  had  happened." 

On  the  road  to  Washington  in  1861,  President-elect  Lincoln  gave 
a  story  which  he  said  best  described  his  doubts  as  to  the  possibility 
of  harmonizing  the  northern  and  southern  wings  of  the  Democratic 
party. 

"I  once  knew,"  he  said,  "a  sound  churchman  by  the  name  of  Brown, 
who  was  a  member  of  a  very  sober  and  pious  committee  having  in 
charge  the  erection  of  a  bridge  over  a  dangerous  and  rapid  river. 
Several  architects  failed,  and  at  last  Brown  said  he  had  a  friend  named 
Jones  who  had  built  several  bridges  and  undoubtedly  could  build 
this  one.    So  Mr.  Jones  was  called  in. 

'  ■  'Can  you  build  this  bridge?1  inquired  the  committee. 

'  'Yes/  replied  Jones,  'or  any  other.  I  could  build  a  bridge  to  hell 
if  necessary.1 

"The  committee  was  shocked,  and  Brown  felt  called  upon  to  defend 
his  friend. 

'  'I  know  Jones  so  well,1  said  he,  'and  he  is  so  honest  a  man  and  so 
good  an  architect,  that  if  he  states  soberly  and  positively  that  he 

19 


can  build  a  bridge  to —  to —  the  infernal  regions,  why  I  believe  it; 
but  I  feel  bound  to  say  that  I  have  my  doubts  about  the  abutment  on 
the  other  side/  " 

Upon  many  occasions  Lincoln  has  been  known  to  have  made  use 
of  the  following  story,  notably  upon  the  occasion  of  the  jaunt  to 
Gettysburg  in  1863.  While  the  distinguished  party  was  lunching 
the  train  passed  through  a  deep  cut,  which  darkened  the  car  and  in' 
tensified  the  noise  of  the  train. 

"This  situation,11  said  Lincoln,  "reminds  me  of  a  friend  of  mine  in 
southern  Illinois,  who  was  riding  over  a  corduroy  road  where  the 
logs  were  not  sufficiently  close  together.  He  found  himself  out  of  his 
reckoning  and  a  thunder'Storm  came  up  to  add  to  his  troubles.  The 
rain  fell  in  torrents  accompanied  by  terrible  thunder  and  most  terrific 
lightning.  He  floundered  along  until  his  horse  at  length  gave  out. 
In  the  glimpse  of  light  afforded  by  the  lightning  his  horse  would  en' 
deavor  to  reach  another  log,  but  frequently  missed  it  and  fell  with  his 
rider. 

"One  bolt,  which  struck  a  neighboring  tree,  seemed  to  crash  the 
earth  beneath  him,  and  brought  him  to  his  kness.  Although  not 
accustomed  to  prayer,  the  traveler  thought  that  the  time  had  come 
to  address  his  Maker,  and  his  petition  was  short  and  to  the  point : 

,k  'Oh,  good  Lord,  if  it  is  all  the  same  to  you,  give  us  a  little  more 
light  and  a  little  less  noise.1  " 

At  this  point  I  close  my  presentation  of  what  has  gone  into  the 
records  before.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that  by  selecting  the  material 
on  the  basis  of  "proving11  a  preconceived  thesis,  one  could  prove 
Abraham  Lincoln  to  have  been  anything  or  nothing.  This  fact  is 
evidenced  also  by  hundreds  of  volumes  of  Lincolniana  in  which, 
deliberately  or  naively,  the  facts  have  been  chosen  to  fit  the  theory. 
The  present  writer  has  endeavored  to  avoid  this  pitfall,  the  sole 
criteria  for  acceptance  or  rejection  of  material  for  presentation  being 
pertinancy  to  the  immediate  problem,  and  historical  accuracy. 

In  view  of  the  evidence  adduced  what  are  the  conclusions,  psy' 
chologically  valid,  as  to  this  complexus  of  alleged  incongruities  in- 
volving this  "man  of  mystery,11  this  heterogeneous,  antithetical  "dual 
personality11  who  was  "all  things  to  all  men.11  Contrary  to  the  ex' 
pectations  of  the  writer,  his  study  has  led  him  inevitably  to  the 
conclusion  that  while  the  personality  of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  un- 

20 


doubtedly  intricate,  profound,  even  complex,  there  was  not  a  dual 
personality. 

Judging  by  the  insistence  upon  the  contradictory  elements  of 
Abraham  Lincoln's  nature,  one  would  suppose  him  to  have  been 
afflicted  with  schizophrenia  from  the  moment  that  Cousin  Dennis 
held  the  "pulpy  little  red  fellow11  in  his  arms,  whereas  the  fact  appears 
to  be  that  the  largest  factor  in  the  contradictory  character  elements 
reported  arose  primarily  from  the  contradictory  character  and  oppos- 
ing orientations  of  the  reporters.  The  myth  of  the  dual  personality 
of  Lincoln  came  into  being  largely  from  the  limited  apperceptive  back' 
ground  of  his  observers,  many  being  among  those  who  flattered  them' 
selves  that  they  best  understood  him. 

Again,  Lincoln's  strangely  magnetic  personality  frequently  enabled 
him  to  cause  his  visitors  to  see  him  as  he  chose  to  be  seen.  It  can 
scarcely  be  doubted  that  so  adroit  a  politician  as  was  Lincoln  was  wr 
aware  of  this  ability,  but  whether  consciously  or  unconsciously 
exerted,  the  existence  of  this  power  adds  another  point  of  interrogation 
to  append  to  the  many  and  diverse  reports  of  "my  intimate  relations 
with  the  Martyr  President/' 

The  apperception  of  the  observers  and  the  behavior  of  Lincoln 
alone,  however,  did  not  determine  the  Lincoln  each  one  saw.  We  see 
largely  if  possible  what  we  look  for.  Roughly  three  classes  came  into 
contact  with  Abraham  Lincoln,  often  obtaining  what  they  regarded 
as  a  sufficient  understanding  of  the  man  in  a  five  minute  interview  to 
enable  them  subsequently  to  explain  him  ad  infinitum.  The  first  class 
was  prepared  to  find  something  agreeable  to  themselves;  the  second 
open  minded — neutral  (at  least  so  far  as  human  nature  permits  of  in- 
tellectual honesty);  a  third  expected  to  see  the  disagreeable.  The 
degree  of  their  suggestibility  to  their  preperceptions  would  be  •" 
prime  determinent  of  the  "Lincoln  as  I  Knew  Him." 

Abraham  Lincoln  need  have  been  no  chameleon.  He  might  have 
been  a  leopard  with  unchangeable  spots,  yet  according  as  the  first 
class  above  mentioned  preferred  spots  to  tawney  hide,  they  would 
see  spots.  Obviously  as  to  the  third  class  the  number  of  spots  detected 
would  vary  inversely  with  their  agreeableness  to  the  observer.  The 
small  but  honest  second  class  so  far  as  they  were  able,  saw  the  leopard 
— spot  and  hide — as  clearly  as  their  apperceptive  background  per- 
mitted. Thus  both  the  Lincoln  seen  and  the  Lincoln  interpreted 
probably  but  rarely  corresponded  very  closely  to  the  Lincoln  that  was. 


Paradoxical  as  it  may  sound,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  one  who  never 
encountered  Lincoln  in  the  flesh  may  acquire  a  better  understanding 
of  the  living  Lincoln  through  careful  sympathetic  yet  impartial  study 
of  his  writings  and  adequately  attested  behavior  than  did  many  who 
may  have  virtually  lived  with  him.  There  is  always  the  danger  of  the 
trees  preventing  one  seeing  the  forest.  There  is  also  the  fact  that  so 
complex  a  thing  as  the  character  of  any  normal  human  being  can  be 
neither  understood,  explained  nor  even  at  all  adequately  perceived 
from  one  or  two  orientations.  When  the  orientation  is  conditioned 
strongly  by  personal  bias,  as  in  the  case  of  propagandists  for  or  against 
institutions  churchly  or  secular,  this  is  peculiarly  the  case. 

Later  writers  who  have  had  to  depend  upon  contemporaneous 
testimony  are  free  from  the  glamour  of  personal  contact.  No  one, 
however,  can  be  perfectly  free  from  a  certain  apperceptive  predeter- 
mination  of  their  perceptions — of  their  conclusions.  The  utmost  that 
one  can  do  is  to  seek  to  maintain  a  scientific  impartiality  so  far  as  in 
their  power  lies.  By  all  means  there  must  be  avoided  further  distor' 
tion  of  truth  by  warping  preperceptions  arising  from  emotional  bias, 
usually,  as  indicated  above,  of  a  sectarian  or  political  nature.  And 
even,  in  the  words  of  Bertrand  Russell,  the  great  British  Mathe- 
matician, "Ethical  considerations  can  only  legitimately  appear  when 
the  truth  has  been  ascertained ;  they  can  and  should  appear  as  determin' 
ing  our  feeling  towards  the  truth,  and  our  manner  of  ordering  our 
lives  in  view  of  the  truth,  but  not  as  themselves  dictating  what  the 
truth  is  to  be." 

Viewing  the  material  presented  in  this  monograph  in  the  impartial 
light  of  modern  psychology,  what  appears?  To  analyze  the  setting  of 
each  of  Lincoln's  acts  or  stories  as  herein  recorded,  would  require  a 
volume  considerably  beyond  the  space  at  my  disposal  in  this  brochure. 
It  appears  evident,  however,  that  considering  each  instance  in  its 
context,  we  find — not  a  dual  personality — but  a  singularly  consistent 
picture  of  Abraham  Lincoln  as  an  honest,  forthright,  individual  of 
profound  depths  of  religious  feeling  with  a  corresponding  disregard 
for  prevailing  sectarian  conventions  and  contempt  for  cant,  blended 
with  a  most  keen  sense  of  humor.  Men  to  whom  the  observance  of 
conventions,  churchly  or  otherwise,  constituted  a  large  part,  if  indeed 
not  the  whole  of  their  "religion"  or  of  their  conception  of  "religion" 


coming  into  contact  with  the  sane  Rabelaisian  mysticismf  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  would  naturally  apperceive  him  as  grossly  irreligious.  This 
would  apply  equally  to  those  who  observed  and  those  who  hated  the 
observance  of  such  conventions.  Similarly,  those  whose  concept  of 
religion  had  little  to  do  with  conventional  observance,  but  who  were 
themselves  more  or  less  mystical,  would  regard  Lincoln  as  essentially 
"religious.11    And  so  it  will  be  with  the  readers  of  this  monograph. 

Abraham  Lincoln,  it  appears  evident  to  me,  may  be  termed  truly 
"that  rare  type  of  being:  an  Intellectual  Mystic.11  To  be  even  more 
specific  I  should  call  him  as  I  have  above,  a  Rabelaisian  Mystic.  The 
First  American  may  be  likened  to  a  diamond  of  many  facets — but 
none'the-less  a  single  diamond. 


f  By  the  term  "sane  mysticism"  as  here  employed  I  refer  to  a  combination  of 
intellectual  ability,  profound  emotional  depths,  and  a  reliance  upon  intuition  con' 
firmed  and  clarified  by  reason.  I  do  not  refer  to  the  misty  "mysticism"  of  the 
various  pseudo-mystic  cults  and  isms  of  the  mystery  monger. 


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